


Missed Opportunities

by PerseusHuntress



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 13:04:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16833178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerseusHuntress/pseuds/PerseusHuntress





	1. Chapter 1

Being in charge of the Tempest on his own again felt odd. He kept worrying. Last time he left his sister on her own she got captured by the Archon and tortured, since then he liked to keep her close and seeing her space empty every time he glanced over was unnerving him.

“Where to Pathfinder?” Kallo called out.

“Oh, er…” Gabriel stumbled.

“She’ll be fine.” Suvi smiled reassuringly. “She is in one of the safest places in the cluster.”

“With Reyes though, so not that safe Suvi” Kallo interrupted.

The science officer laughed “The day that man lets Odile Ryder come to harm on his watch is the day that the sun explodes”

“You know this is not really reassuring right? This could totally happen, worst in fact…” Ryder grimaced.

“I am still sketchy on why we even let the Charlatan onto the Hyperion. This seems like a breach of security.” The pilot said.

“He is an ally Kallo. We can’t just bar him on the premise that he might be a bit dodgy” Suvi frowned.

“A bit dodgy!? That’s an understatement…” Kallo said.

“GUYS! Not helping here!” Ryder furrowed his brows.

“She’ll be fine Gabs” Vetra’s voice came over the comms “I have no love for the man, but when it comes to your sister, I am with Suvi. Now let’s get going Pathfinder, we are all bored to tears staring at Meridian here”

“Can Turians even cry?” Ryder wondered out loud.

“If you don’t get moving, you will find out. Is that really something you want to test?” Vetra teased.

“I’m going, I’m going!” Gabriel cringed “Kallo, take us to the Nexus I need to speak to Gramps”

The Nexus finally started to feel lived in, with the departure of the Hyperion, and new waves of outpost deployment, the stagnant feeling of a waiting room had disappeared, replaced with a more leisurely atmosphere, much more like the Citadel back in the Milky Way. The road ahead was long, but they were finally well on the way.

When they arrived the rest of the crew peeled off in different directions, running errands, meeting up with old friends. He found himself alone with Vetra on the tram to Operations, Sid was still at work, and Drack was meeting Gabriel in Kesh’s office.

“You have that look” Vetra squeezed his hand, searching his face.

“What?” his eyes widened in shock “What look? I have no look…”

Vetra laughed “Ryder, you are blushing. I knew you were up to something! What do you need Drack for?”

“You’ll find it out” he tried for coy.

“Yeah, now I’m definitely scared… what are you plotting?” she raised a brow.

Ryder frowned “It’s a surprise. Kind of. Trust me?”

“Against my better instincts,” her mandibles flared in a smile “explicitly.”

“Good” he raised himself up, reaching for her, running his fingers affectionately across her mandible “You’ll enjoy it.”

Vetra’s subharmonics hummed in answer, her free hand found his waist, hooking a finger into his belt she roughly pulled him to her.

He suddenly had strong desire to ditch this entire idea and go back to the Tempest, make her purr his name over and over again. The heat in her eyes was not helping his resolve, his hands caressed her hip, eliciting a soft quiet moan from her.

“Ahem…” a cough stopped his hand half way up the inside of her thigh. A salarian stood at the open doors of the tram, stubbornly staring at the floor.

Vetra burst out laughing, disengaging herself from Ryder “I’ll meet you later?”

She bent down to brush her forehead against his, before turning and walking out.

Gabriel followed the sway of her hips with a sinking feeling of disappointment.


	2. Chapter 2

“Reyes, you are dripping on me…” Odile looked up with a furrowed brow, as drops of water fell steadily on her nose.

“Sorry” he smiled down at the woman lying in his lap, carefully reaching forwards to put his glass on the table.

Ryder continued to look up at him expectantly.

“Really?” he raised a brow.

“Yes, really” she stood her ground.

Reyes shook his head laughing, leant down, and gently kissed the water off her nose. She laced her fingers into his hair and gently pulled him down to her lips, sinking into a lazy, warm kiss. This kiss had none of the hunger or desperation of the ones only a few hours ago, this kiss was comfortable, slow and heady, making them both lose themselves in its depths, forget time and space.

It was a rare afternoon when both her and Reyes actually managed to spend more than a couple of hours together. Even with the Archon gone and Meridian at their full disposal, there was always something to do. Not today though, today they refused to leave the comfort of Ryder’s apartment on the Hyperion, being lazy together, without the constant threat of violence, was a luxury, not to mention other benefits it offered. Gabriel commandeered the Tempest for the day, and Odile was all too happy to oblige, he took the crew with him, so it was blissfully quiet, for once.

Her omni-tool beeped a message making Reyes groan into her mouth. 

Ryder brushed a finger across his lips as a promise and disentangled herself from him, her eyes narrowing as she read the content of the message.

“Reyes…” she began slowly “Can you source ice cream, very specifically pink carabineers and… pool floatiest…?” 

“Why? And more importantly who need this?!” Reyes peered at the message in confusion “Oh. I see. You know this seems like a waste of my talents, you can get all of this on the Nexus.”

“Presumably she will be able to trace it?” Odile shrugged “And you know what Gabriel is like, detail oriented would be putting it mildly.”

He closed his eyes with a mock-pained expression “And here I thought you would be my downfall. Never counted on yet another Ryder complicating my life.”

“So much drama Vidal” she laughed. “Over ice cream”

“It’s what I am best at” he smiled.

“So can you?” she rose up onto her elbows looking into his face.

“My fees are steep Ryder” he smirked at her.

Odile grinned sitting up properly “I’ll make it worth your time”

“Oh yeah?” he raised a brow.

“Oh yeah…” she purred swinging herself onto his lap.

“I am impressed at the lengths you’d go for your brother” he swallowed as she pressed herself closer to him.

“Way to make it weird babe…” she murmured.

He opened his mouth to respond, but then thought better of it and pulled her the rest of the way toward him, kissing her hard.


	3. Chapter 3

“You’re swaggering, stop that, immediately” PeeBee narrowed her eyes.

“Watch me” Ryder smiled wider, his eyes sparkling with glee as he danced away from the asari, throwing up finger guns at her as he went.

“What the fuck did I just witness?!” PeeBee looked at POC who chirped in response offering no answers what so ever.

Gabriel rode the euphoric wave, everything was going according to plan. He floated through the Tempest, high-fiving a bewildered Cora and sweeping an enthusiastic Liam into a dramatic spin, Jaal heard him coming a mile off and wedged himself into the techlab bolting the doors, clearly not one for dancing, his loss.

He arrived at Vetra’s door and stopped short. This was the moment, it will all either go spectacularly wrong or so damn right they will write songs about it. When it came to grand romantic gestures Ryder was hardly a novice, but this was on a whole different level from the giant bouquets and confetti in the Milky Way. For one he somehow managed to involve half of the damn Nexus in this thing, the Angara and even a reluctant Reyes all pitched in. All the while miraculously keeping it quiet from his most of his own crew and Vetra herself.

His omni-tool chirped, he looked at the message and smiled, his sister was on form as always.

‘Good luck sunshine, if it goes horribly wrong, take pictures I want evidence. Much Love O’.

Ryder knocked on the door.

Vetra appeared at the threshold frowning “Since when do you knock?”

This took him aback somewhat, reality rarely measured up to the glossy pinks of imagination.

“I don’t know, you may not be dressed?” he shrugged recovering quickly.

“When did that ever stop you?” Vetra smirked.

“True” Gabriel laughed, taking her hand and guiding her out of the room “I have something for you”

“Oh?” her subharmonics registered genuine surprise. He led her to the Nomad and position her with her back to it. Vetra looked him with a kind of abject horror that comes from facing the unknown.

“What are you doing?” she stuttered.

“You’ll find out, close your eyes.” He smiled, the nerves were suddenly overwhelming and he tried to subtly gulp air.

“Gabs if this…” she pleaded.

“Starling, just indulge me? Please?” he put on his best puppy eyes, which he pretty sure came out slightly manic from the jittering feeling in his stomach.

Vetra inhaled deeply and closed her eyes “Okay”

Ryder ducked under the Nomad and produced a small thin box tied with an elaborate ribbon. He reached out and took Vetra’s hands with trembling fingers, she visibly flinched from surprise.

A nervous laughed bubbled up from him “Relax, it’s not as bad as you think”

“Ryder, I am half expecting a proposal and half expecting you to hand me a live grenade. I am not sure which one I prefer at this point” Vetra murmured.

“I heard that” Gabriel chuckled, depositing the box into her open hands “Alright you can open your eyes now”

Vetra was hesitant, her mandibles twitched as she cautiously half opened one eye.

“Oh…” she examined the box quizzically.

“See? Not a proposal.” He smiled “Though I don’t see why that would be that horrifying. Open it”

Her forehead furrowed as she unpicked the delicate bow. She fumbled with the lid dropping the box, making Ryder almost launch himself to catch it, but she snatched it up mid-air before he could get to it.

Gently removing the lid she gazed into the box, her eyes flashed with bewilderment, but her face remained controlled.

“Gabs, they are lovely!” her voice sounded strained. “I’ve always wanted fur lined gloves!”

Gabriel laughed “There is more Starling, there is a reason for this madness.”

He punched in some buttons into his omni-tool “Kallo, let’s go!”

“Pathfinder” the pilot’s voice rang through the comms.

“And we are going where?” Vetra’s voice was weak, she looked like she entirely lost grip on reality.

“You’ll see” he smiled, reaching up to her and kissing her on the mandible.


End file.
